A spatial analysis was carried out with the GeoCat online tool (Bachman et al. 2011) using 32 collections from 24 different localities. The preliminary conservation status assessments of extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) were based on the geographical coordinates of the specimen records. We used latitude and longitude coordinates from the material given in ESM 2.

When the IUCN default cell width (2 km) was used, A. harleyi was classified as Vulnerable (VU) based on Extent of Occurrence (EOO = 7,074 sq.km) and Endangered (EN) based on Area of Occupancy (AOO = 72 sq.km). With the auto-value cell width (16 km) the classification was Vulnerable (VU) based on Extent of Occurrence (EOO = 7,074 sq.km) and Not Threatened (NT) based on Area of Occupancy (AOO = 2,530 sq.km).

Diagnostic description:

Among the species of sect. Urospadix occurring in the Chapada Diamantina, Anthurium harleyi is most similar to A. erskinei, sharing the following characters: rupicolous habit with the stem wedged in rock crevices, leaf blades simple, thick, rigid, brittle and usually attenuate to rounded at the base, spathes patent to erect. Anthurium harleyi differs most clearly from A. erskinei in the following characters: inflorescence projecting more strongly from the foliage (greater relative inflorescence length), shorter and narrower leaf blade, lower leaf blade centre of gravity, shorter spathe, and relatively larger flowers (fewer flowers per spadix width). Additional distinctive characters of A. harleyi are: midrib yellowish on adaxial side, spathe more strongly patent at anthesis with recurved apex, later becoming erect, spadix dark purple at anthesis, and more northerly distribution within the Chapada Diamantina, suggesting an allopatric pattern in relation to A. erskinei.

Phylogeny:

Temponi (2006), in an extensive study of Brazilian Anthurium species, provided molecular phylogenetic evidence for the view that the closest relatives of species of sect. Urospadix in the semi-arid interior of Bahia are to be found in the humid Atlantic forest, a suggestion made earlier by Mayo (1978, 1990) on grounds of morphological similarity. Anthurium erskinei and A. cleistanthum G.M.Barroso from Espirito Santo were paired in Temponi's total evidence tree, implying that A. erskinei, and by extension the related A. harleyi, belong to a lineage whose members occur mainly in humid forest. This prompts the conjecture that the evolution of rupicolous species of Anthurium in the Chapada Diamantina adapted to seasonal drought was influenced by cyclic episodes of forest advance and retreat in the interior of northeast Brazil during and after the Pleistocene. Andrade et al. (2007) and Andrade & Mayo (2010) invoked a similar cause to account for genetic patterns in Monstera species in Northeast Brazil.

Misc

Phenology:

Anthurium harleyi flowers and fruits throughout the year.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic Notes:

Anthurium harleyi appears to have been collected first by H.S. Irwin, R.M. Harley and G.L. Smith in 1971 near the town of Morro do Chapeu at the summit of the eponymous hat-shaped mountainous outcrop, and many other collections have since been made in the area. For many years the name Anthurium harleyi has been used to determine herbarium specimens and cultivated plants, and was also cited in publications such as those by Mayo (1984, 1990), Richards & Mayo (2009) and Pontes (2014), but it was never validly published until now. Andrade & Mayo (2013) published a taxonomic description of this species under the name Anthurium sp.